evan tracey, good to have you back with us again. >> great to be here.how are you. >> woodruff: very well. good to see you. but this is such a diversity, disparity. $46 million on the part of conservative.t and republican outside groups versus $7 million on the part of democratic groups. is this consistent with what we've seen in the past? >> well, it's interesting because when you sort of look at the recent history of campaign finance, it used to be that the parties were the big purveyors of what used to be called soft money. it was fairly equal. after mccain feingold the democrats took a strong edge with the 527s and those groups that were basically backed by the labor unions but now post citizens united you see the republicans have gotten back in the game in a big way in a really out-spending the democrats in these key congressional senate races not just in the amount of money they're spending but in the scope and coverage of races that they're sitting. >> woodruff: post citizens united. you're referring to the supreme court decision that said it was

now, evan tracey, our analyst on political television commercials tells us, look, it makes sense becausee negative and to allow candidates to be able to talk in more positive messages and as dana points out, the majority of money is there to benefit republicans. >> mark, is there any evidence to substantiate some of the claims that are floating around this political season that suggest that there are foreign companies, corporations investing in these third party groups in a way to influence this election cycle? >> tony, a major talking point right now by the president, by the vice president, by democrats as dana had said just earlier they're going out there saying that the chamber of commerce is accepting money. they have these entities set up overseas and, in fact, what democrats are saying is the chamber of commerce which is spending a lot of money on this election needs to prove that this foreign money is not influencing the election. now, there's no proof at all except that democrats say they want disclosure and the chamber of commerce based upon the law does mott have to disclose. i